--“Gypsy, Dublin”. Photo by CAHK, 2007
The Roots of ParaphernaliaBear with me on this,
As we start with the Indo-European bher,
to bear. Springing from this root is
burden, birth, and suffering.
And on to sufferance
and delate, -- to accuse or bear witness.
Bhering on, we branch out to prefir
offer, bring, basket, fertile,
and from there to the periphery
and phosphorus—bringing light
or adiaphorism--tolerance or forbearance.
Finally, this bher gives rise to paraphernalis,
through the Greek,
describing all of a woman’s property
outside of her dowry.
Surely metaphor must come in here, too.
For me,
Bear brings all this and more.
Koz, “Big Bear”, deLate,
offered light, forbearance,
fertility, and the birth
of a preferred new life
in the basket of my days on Earth
And with his death,
came the burden of suffering.
Now he is out there on the periphery
of the universe somewhere,
and I am left
with my paraphernalia.